Face masks find utility in a variety of manufacturing, custodial, and household applications. In these types of applications, face masks filter out dust and other contaminates to facilitate easier breathing on the part of the user. Likewise, face masks have found utility in the healthcare industry. In this regard, face masks are helpful in that they may be configured to filter exhaled air from the wearer to minimize the amount of bacteria or other contaminants released from the user into the environment. Such a limitation of bacteria contaminants is important in that typically hospital patients require a sterile environment in order to avoid infections, and hospital patients often have compromised immune systems making them susceptible to infection. Additionally, face masks may also filter inhaled air to protect the user from contaminants that may be found in a hospital setting, as hospital patients commonly carry airborne bacterial pathogens.
It is therefore the case that in the health care field, specifically in operating rooms, health care providers often use face masks to protect themselves from acquiring harmful diseases such as AIDS and hepatitis along with other contagious diseases that may be present in the patients that are being treated.
Face masks have also been designed in order to provide a tight sealing arrangement. Such a sealing arrangement may prove useful in preventing the transfer of pathogens that reside in bodily fluids or other liquids. As such, face masks have been designed in order to prevent airborne pathogens and/or pathogens in fluids from being transferred to and/or from the health care provider.
Some face masks are configured to cover the entire face of a user while other face masks are designed to cover only the nose and mouth of the user. Additionally, face masks have been designed to cover various parts of a user's face. For instance, certain face masks are configured for covering the nose, eyes, and mouth of a user. The section of the face mask that covers the nose and mouth typically is composed of a material that prevents the passage of germs and other contaminants therethrough but allows for the passage of air so that the user may breathe. This section is typically known as a front panel or body portion. Attached to this front panel is a securing device that is used for attaching the front panel securely to the head of the user. For instance, manual tie straps are often employed. For this purpose the front panel of the face mask is placed on the face of the user and the tie straps are extended around the head of the user and tied. The straps fasten the face mask to the user.
In order to construct a face mask that has tie straps and a front panel, the two parts are created separately and then attached to one another. For instance, the tie straps are typically attached to the front panel by means of staples, adhesive, or various types of mechanical fastenings. As such, several different parts go into the construction of face masks. It is therefore the case that components of the face mask are formed in separate processes and are then assembled onto one another in additional processes. Performing these extra manufacturing steps adds to the cost of the final product and also adds to the time it takes to construct the face mask.
Additionally, face masks that are constructed from various parts that are attached to one another have also been known to break at these attachment points. For instance, an elastic band may be employed on the face mask in order to retain the front panel onto the head or face of the user. Face masks of this type have been known to break at the attachment point between the front panel and the elastic band. Face masks being composed of several different parts are therefore less structurally sound than would be a face mask that is composed of a single piece. Also, apertures that may be present at the connection points between the front panel of the face mask and the manual tie straps or elastic band, that is employed to retain the front panel on the face or head of the user, may have apertures present that allow for the transfer of pathogens to or from the wearer of the face mask.
Also, prior face masks have been sometimes composed of several layers of different material that are used to provide a sealing arrangement to the face of the wearer and to filter pathogens. These complex arrangements are disadvantageous because they employ different types of materials and require several manufacturing steps in order to construct the final product.
Face masks are sometimes provided in a dispenser from which an individual face mask may be obtained by a wearer. Items dispensed from a dispenser are typically low in cost and are disposable. Therefore, it is usually important to be able to dispense these items inexpensively without damage to the product.
Prior dispensers for face masks have typically included a container into which a nested stack of face masks were placed. The face mask to be dispensed from the container was typically positioned at an exterior opening of the carton and an elastic band or tie strap that was attached to this face mask was hung out of the carton. A user would dispense this face mask by grasping the elastic band or tie strap and pulling down, thereby causing the face mask onto which it is attached to be removed from the carton. Subsequently, a new face mask to be dispensed would fall into the place of the previously dispensed face mask, and the elastic band or tie straps of the next to be dispensed face mask would protrude from the carton. These types of dispensing arrangements suffer from the disadvantage of commonly dispensing more than one face mask when a user pulls on the elastic band or tie straps. Also, such an arrangement may also fail to have the next to be dispensed face mask being positioned in the dispensing position upon the removal of a preceding face mask. In this instance, the user must reach into the carton in order to grasp the face mask to be removed. This could cause the face mask to be damaged upon being grasped and pulled by the user.
The present invention provides for a single piece face mask that alleviates problems encountered in the design and/or dispensing found in prior face mask designs and dispensing arrangements.